A US woman who shot and killed her husband and two adult children before taking her own life is thought to have committed the shocking crime as a result of being ostracised from the religion she was raised in.

A federal judge sentenced a former Arkansas judge Wednesday to five years in prison — a stiffer punishment than prosecutors recommended — after he admitted giving young male defendants lighter sentences in return for personal benefits that included sexual favours.

Every time I tell a mate I’m doing a story on cryptocurrency, they invariably ask me the same two questions: should they invest their own hard-earned money, and which cryptocurrency will get them a Lamborghini/yacht/island quickest?

In a 60 Minutes online exclusive, reporter Liz Hayes quizzed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his relationship with the unpredictable Twitter aficionado and US president Donald Trump ahead of their meeting at the White House Friday.

Abbott deserved more credit: McGregor

Cate McGregor was surprised when she was unconditionally backed by the cricket community and the Australian Army.

But it was Tony Abbott's response to her transformation from man to woman that knocked her for six.

It took less than an hour for the federal Liberal leader to call McGregor after she forwarded the chapter of her book that outed her.

She'd put off discussing her gender dysmorphia with her long-time pal - a Catholic conservative who openly opposes same-sex marriage - and in hindsight "grossly under-estimated his capacity for friendship".

"He didn't run a focus group or ring (conservative Liberal members) Cory Bernardi or Kevin Andrews to see if it was ok," McGregor says.

"There is a kind of a firefighter buried inside the politician still and he tends to barge into burning buildings if his friends are in there."

Mr Abbott publicly backed his friend by introducing her on ABC's Australian Story, when she detailed her struggles as a man and then as a trans-woman.